


In Visions Of The Night

by Of_Princes_and_Savages



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Anti Blue Fairy, Belle gets a mention because, Explaining, F/M, I'm Sorry, Missing Year (Once Upon a Time), Nova may join a fairy revolt, Swearing, Talking, like a lot more swearing than I expected, no kissing, ooh that's a tag!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2019-10-23 03:03:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17675219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Of_Princes_and_Savages/pseuds/Of_Princes_and_Savages
Summary: He'd changed, she'd changed, they'd changed: Everything changed, but why did this have to feel the same?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Because I like them, okay? They deserve a main spotlight sometimes, not just a side-pairing spot. I don't know why I wrote this when I had other stuff to work on but, hey, no regrets.
> 
> (Also please tell me if it's a parapet/rampart/battlement, that's oddly the thing I'm more insecure about than grammar, dialogue, or spelling in this fic?)

He remembered why he took up drinking again...watch-duty was boring as hell.

Sleepy was zonked out already, propped against the parapet wall with his axe across his lap, snoring, mouth hanging open. For the last few minutes, he'd been playing with this pebble, considering throwing it in Sleepy's mouth.

The cons were, he had deduced, Sleepy accidentally swallowing it. Choking on it. Maybe breaking a tooth? The pros were it would make a great story to tell their brothers, and maybe wake him up just long enough to visit the kitchens. Find some hot soup, or bread. He could go for something to eat. He'd even eat an _apple_ if he had one.

Fuck. This was boring.

_"Psst..."_

Was Sleepy trying to talk in his sleep again? He was definitely getting a pebble to the face, then, that was more annoying than the snoring.

_"Psssst!"_

Shit. _Not_ Sleepy.

He sat upright, dropping the pebble in favor of gripping his axe better. Horizon? Nothing. Grappling lines over the battlements? Nope. He absolutely did _not_ have to stand on his toes to see if anyone was down below, where no one was, either-

"Dreamy! _Psst_! Dreamy, over here!"

Slowly, very slowly, he turned around. Snow's castle had that classic castle look, complete with the battlements with the gaps between the blocks on top of the wall. He wasn't big on architecture, who knew if it had a name? He'd ask Belle, but she was long gone with the Dark One's son/Henry's dad, and he wasn't sure they'd ever see her again. (She said they were going to go look for Rumpelstiltskin, he couldn't say much more than "best of luck, sister" to that, could he?) On one of the low squares, _whatever_ it was called, the one that had been right above his head earlier, on that spot was...

"Nova?"

He had never seen her in...well he guessed it was her normal size, _maybe_ five inches tall. She had a soft, pink glow about her to match her dress, looking just like he remembered: From the dainty slippers to the frilly ballerina-like dress with all the poof and shimmer, the baubles in her hair. Just...tinier.

"Hi!" she waved, bouncing up and down on her toes. "I've been looking for you! I wanted to-EEP!"

His axe clattered to the stone walkway as he dove, hands outstretched, to catch her as she toppled. Fortunately enough her wings snapped into motion and she hovered up, up, up until she was eye-level, glowing pink with embarassment rather than a magic aura. Come to think of it, he'd never seen her wings before for all they played a role in...in everything.

(Unsurprisingly, he thought they were the prettiest he'd seen.)

"Um...hi?" she repeated, hovering back to sit on one of the higher squares, legs dangling off the edge. "Sorry about that, um, I just...I've been looking for you. You have no idea how big a castle is when you're this tall. Short."

Leroy blinked. He found he had no idea what to say because, yeah, the idea crossed his mind he might meet Nova again. In Storybrooke he'd never had the chance because... _because_ , but now that they were back...well. Fairies were generally too busy helping the Enchanted Forest, which needed quite a bit of it nowadays. It hadn't mattered, in theory.

"Are...you going to say anything?" she asked, wringing her hands. She was nervous and he was just _staring_ , fuck him. "Dre-Wait, do you still go by Dreamy? I mean some people are sticking with their curse names, I hear, I kinda like Astrid but nobody calls me that in the fairy glen, um, except Tink, but-"

"Tink's in the fairy glen?" he blurted out. "Really?"

It seemed unlikely because Tink was just about the opposite of a fairy. She was helpful to Regina and played with Robin Hood's kid, Roland, a lot when he needed a sitter. But was she really bunking with the fairies? He thought she had a room here, but then, she also seemed to come and go as she pleased. Like a cat.

"Well...she visits. Sometimes." Astrid, (if that's the name she liked, he would call her that,) looked at the star-speckled sky, and cupped her hands around her mouth like she was telling a secret. "She won't answer to her fairy name, she won't take back her wand, she wears human clothes shrunk down to her size and talks to Regina too much. I heard Blue say she'd lose her wings again if she didn't behave more appropriately, and you know what Tinker Bell said?"

He'd found himself leaning closer, just to hear better. Yup. Only reason. "What?"

He _hadn't_ imagined it, she was _definitely_ looking up at the stars nervously. Maybe that was why she was small, she was afraid Blue was watching. Disapprovingly. But she didn't look scared, exactly. She actually glowed brighter for a heartbeat.

"She said _she wasn't afraid!_ " Astrid whispered, wingtips quivering. "She said she'd lived without wings longer than she'd had them, she survived on Neverland without wings and she defeated Pan's Shadow without them!"

Had she? He'd seen her flit into a few rooms before getting full-sized, he hadn't known Tinker Bell was ever wingless. But Astrid wasn't done yet.

"You know what else? She scolded Blue, can you imagine that?" No. But there were days he'd pay to see it. "She told everyone, the whole glen, that Blue stole her wings! Do you know what that means?"

"That she's a jerk?" he guessed.

"Yes! I mean, no, technically yes but also no," Astrid started to fidget again before shaking herself. "She's...she's a jerk because she lied! To all of us! Fairies are taught that we lose our wings if we don't believe in ourselves, if _we_ don't behave...fairylike." Oh shit, was this going where he thought it was? "Don't you see? When she told you I'd lose my wings if we went away together, she didn't mean it!"

His chest twisted painfully at the memory. At the implication. At how, even if it had gone right, it would not have. "No. No," his fingers tapped on the stone against his will. "That means she did mean it. Especially if she has the power to tear them off."

Astrid hopped to her feet and started pacing, gesturing all about. He forgot how restless her hands were. He forgot how hard he'd tried to forget that before deciding to sleep in the bed he fucking made for himself.

"No it _doesn't_!" she denied, fiercely. "It means that she's a liar! And any fairy that has a dream, not just me, or Tink, or-Or any of us! Any of us can do anything, the only reason we don't is because we're afraid a bitter harpy is going to clip our wings because she's tried to make it where we don't know how to live without them!"

She was furious. The soft rosy glow she'd had earlier was burning faintly red, and he found himself at a loss for words. Because, holy shit, if that was true it made the the Dark One look a lot less menacing. That took some doing, considering he had potions on hand that worked like emotional pesticide. Emotion-cide.

"Shouldn't-" he started slowly when it became apparent she was waiting on him to say...something. "Shouldn't you tell-Look she's Snow's patron fairy, shouldn't you tell her? Or somebody with a crown? Who can nail her to a wall?" Maybe literally, he wasn't sure at this point which would work better.

Astrid's wings drooped. The look of sheer disappointment on her face kept him from considering if her wings had some kind of visual language for long. If they did, though, clearly she was _down_.

"Who's going to believe a no-wand fairy like me over _the_ Blue Star?" she mumbled. "I'm only telling you because...because I thought it was fair. Because...um, Anton the Giant? That's not-so-giant?"

Much like his nose and ears, (yay,) and the fairies' wings, had returned, "Tiny" had become seventy-seven-and-a-half feet tall again. But rather than stay alone in his gold-filled castle, he'd slid down the beanstalk and walked to the nearest castle, which just happened to be the home of Prince Phillip and Princess Aurora. After a bit of screaming and explaining, Regina made a potion for him because there was no point in being the only giant. His current occupation was helping with the crops in the kingdom because he had a ridiculously green thumb, not just for beans.

"What about him?"

"Um, Blue was going to use some fairy dust on the root vegetables so the kingdoms would have something to eat in the winter since there's so little food, and took some of us there, like a field trip? He saw me and asked if I was Nova, or Astrid, 'cause he had a friend who'd been talking about a pink fairy with brown hair, and said I could find you here in Snow's castle if I wanted to talk to you."

"Huh." Okay...okay he kinda forgot he'd told Anton about Nova/Astrid. In his defense the story came out at the end of his fourth beer, and 4 Beers Drunk Him was a talkative dumbass. Unfortunately the story bled into the fifth beer, and 5 Beers Drunk Him was a forgetful bastard...

"He also told me how your name changed," she peered over to the ground, at his discarded axe, where there was enough moonlight to see the letters burned into the handle. "I'm so sorry, I-I was upset and kinda mad at you, but I really wasn't worth breaking a dwarf axe over..."

(Fucking 5 Beers Drunk Him! This, _this_ was why he quit drinking. Among other reasons, yeah, but this solidified it.)

She looked like she'd shrunk half an inch more, in the silence, and that wasn't right. "It's not your fault I'm a dumbass," he muttered, glad it was loud enough for her to hear and uncurl. A bit. "A really grumpy, really gullible dumbass."

"Dreamy..."

"You can call me Leroy." He smiled, a mostly-real smile, picking up his axe and hefting it over his shoulder. His hand covered most of the lettering, he didn't feel inclined to move it. "I seem to do better by you when I'm Leroy, anyway."

Astrid rolled her eyes, brushing down her skirts. A sparkling mist floated off. "I told you, _you're_ my hero. Leroy, Dreamy, Grumpy...you're still the same to me."

"I'm really not." For one thing, Dreamy knew exactly two four-lettered words: Damn and hell. "Look...Astrid...I still l-" nope, nope, nope, don't say _that_ four-lettered word, nope, not if he was trying to let her down easy, "- _like_ you, a lot, but I can't put you in a position where Blue can hurt you."

"I'm not asking you to!" Astrid stamped her foot down. "I'm asking-I'm asking you to stop worrying about me! I want to be your friend!"

Leroy looked up at the sky. Shit, was that star flickering or moving closer? No, just flickering. "I guess...I guess Blue can't clip your wings for having friends-"

Astrid zipped up in the air and with a shocking amount of grace, (considering,) came to a halt just before crashing into his face, her own twisted up in frustration.

"Stop that!" she scolded him, and he went crossed-eyed watching the admonishing, accusing finger pointed at the bridge of his nose. "I know how to live without wings, now, and I'm not scared of her! You shouldn't be either..." the scold drained from her, taking on a sheepish air. He imagined she wasn't used to asserting herself. That thought made him shove down all those pessimistic little voices reminding him how doomed this was, stand a little straighter. One snarly little voice rose up above them.

_'It's not Blue you're scared of, dumbass!'_

"I'm not just worried about Blue, okay? You're...it's...I do want to be your friend. I'd love to. Fuck what Blue says-Oh shit-" one problem with being _Leroy_ was that he'd gotten used to some of those four-lettered words filling in for more eloquent ones, which was not going to work in front a former nun. Not when he had fake memories of beating whacked with a ruler for saying them. "I didn't m- _Shit_ , no, wait-Damn it!"

Astrid started to giggle, slapping her hands over her mouth to stifle it. Fruitlessly. She had one of those musical laughs, and he felt himself laughing-albeit in an awkward, embarrassed way,-along with her after only a moment.

"I mean," he cleared his throat, "I mean that the Enchanted Forest is...it's different, dangerous. There's Blue, sure, but there's the Wicked Witch of the Wherever, there's flying monkeys, even, and whatever Ogres and bandits and pirates there always were. If you get hurt because Blue got her pan-Her _wings_ in a twist, took everything from you just to prove a point, and you got hurt? I couldn't stand that. You don't deserve that, that's..." he bit the tip of his tongue, trying keep the end of that sentence inside.

That it was _why he'd ran away from this_ , the first time. He couldn't drag her down like an anvil tied around her neck. She had her dreams, and she actually had a chance of achieving it...at least he'd thought so.

That little snarly voice in his head that had been helpful a minute ago seemed to turn on him, now, ( _fucking dumbass!_ ) only for Astrid to groan. Maybe she was agreeing. Either way, she spun in a full circle, three-hundred and sixty degrees, twice, (seven-twenty,) and threw her hands up.

"Why are you so sweet, _and_ so infuriating?" she demanded, pointing down at Sleepy. The angle of his lolling head was the only thing to change, he was totally undisturbed. "You all had a cottage when you met Queen Snow White, right? You had to have left the mines for that, how is it different than me trying to leave the fairy version of Jonestown!"

"The what?"

"Jonestown! The cult, with the compound and the poison Kool-Aid in-Nevermind that! Answer the question!"

"Because-It's-Well my boss didn't threaten me I'd lose body parts if I left, for one thing," he glanced pointedly at her wings, that twitched an agitated beat to keep her aloft, "and it's not like I was kicked out without somewhere to go, either. I had a plan!"

(As for the cottage...well, his brothers kinda just...occupied it. It was empty when they came along, trying to stay close to him when he left the dwarf mines. None of them would confess to who suggested it, but probably Stealthy, that was one resourceful dwarf. Rest his soul.)

"A plan?" She tilted her head to the side, a doubtful look on her face. "Leroy, don't take this the wrong way...but you had to be _told_ I asked you on a date, what kind of plan did you come up with?"

"Look, a guy came looking for miners in the tavern one night, right? I asked if I could keep any of the diamonds I mined, just one ring was all I wanted. I...was told yes, and went to work for three months, paid all my wages to the foreman, and got framed for a stolen diamond in the Evil Queen's land. Okay, it wasn't much of a plan after all, but that's what happened!"

"Wha-Why would you do that? Why would your brothers let you do that?" Astrid looked back at Sleepy. "Why did you let him do that?"

A snore was not a clear-cut answer.

"I..." Leroy chose to watch his fingers flex around the haft of his axe instead, unable to look at her. "They didn't stop me because they thought it would help. I wasn't exactly the smiling face I am today, alright, I was a miserable bastard. And it was my own fault, so..."

It was quiet for a moment, too quiet, before Astrid fluttered down into his line of vision. She had her hands behind her back and a pensive look on her tiny face. "A ring?"

Fuck.

"Yeah..." well it was less embarrassing than her finding out he broke his axe through the giant he told the story to, while drunk off his ass celebrating an almost-ripe crop of magic beans. Slightly. "For you. I'm...I'm sorry I was such an idiot, okay? I should have told you that...probably a long time ago, but definitely again the moment the curse broke."

"It's okay...I mean...you probably couldn't have talked to me, then, everyone was busy." She scrunched up her nose. "And a bunch of weird guys kept showing up at the convent door. Now that we weren't technically nuns, I guess? So, you probably wouldn't have gotten through anyway, then."

Whale popped into his head, firstly. He wondered where that guy had ended up, what realm did Dr. Frankenstein live in? "It's still not okay," he muttered, ignoring that. Because it wasn't. "You trusted me and I was...wrong. Really, really wrong. And I'm sorry."

"It's...well maybe not _okay_. But I kind of understand, now at least. Do you know how to swim?"

Technically, yes. He hadn't had the chance to test it since the curse broke, (sometimes he got drunk and fell off the dock by his boat,) but technically yes. "A little."

"I can't. I've never learned how..." she glared up at the sky, just for a second, "...just _maybe_ , a tiny bit, we were getting ahead of ourselves. With the boat at least. I still-I mean, I don't think it would have-Maybe-"

"We could have been happy?"

Astrid wiggled her head in an approximation of a nod. Now she coutldn't look at him, and he took a deep, deep breath.

What was that stupid thing he used to say? You can do anything, as long as you can dream it? Well funnily enough, he dreamt a lot about a certain fairy here and getting a second chance with her, so time to start doing something about i instead of being so... _grumpy_.

"I'm not sure about that...but, ah, I spend a lot of time on night watch. With this guy," Leroy nodded over at his snoring brother. "Maybe, um, maybe you could come back, and we could talk some more?"

Astrid stared at him like he'd started speaking in tongues. For a disconcerting amount of time. A squadron of flying monkeys could have attacked right then, and Leroy never would have heard them coming over the pounding of his own pulse in his ears. He couldn't even look to see if there were any out there because he was frozen by a pair of wide, shiny brown eyes, until she blinked.

"Really? You're not-You're not going to change your mind? You won't...let Blue get to you again, you really want to do this?" She was so _hopeful_.

"I won't make you any promises I can't keep," he said, summoning all his courage to hold out his hand. "Except that I like you. I want to give this a second shot, the best I can, and I'm not letting her get to me this time. That's my promise."

Astrid _beamed_ , radiating pure, pink-hued joy from head to toe. She shook on his vow, taking his index fingertip in both of her tiny hands, and making her own declaration:

"Fuck Blue!"

Leroy burst out laughing. He had the stupidest grin on his face, even when she said she had to go, _quickly_ , promising to be back the night after next when he was on watch again. The grin lasted even as she disappeared, a spark zigging and zagging into the night leaving nothing but a faint trail shimmering in her wake.

He was even still grinning when he dropped back down, sitting again, axe falling to the side by accident. The haft striking Sleepy in the head was what finally woke him up, with a snort and a start.

"Whazzat? Ow! Hey!" he took his hat off, rubbing at the sore spot. "Did you just hit me? Wait. Are you _smiling_? What did I miss?"

"Everything!" he laughed. "You missed everything!"

"...you're drunk, aren't you?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god I'd forgotten I'd written a second part. I mean...here's a follow-up chapter!
> 
> Set in Storybrooke after they get back from the Missing Year, where Zelena's running amok-amok-amok and nobody remembers why. (Which...really makes a spiteful play for revenge a little redundant, in my opinion.)

The librarian gave Astrid an odd look when she asked if she could go up into the clocktower. Probably because patrons didn't usually ask to go up to the clocktower, but having the face of the clock shattered last night and men up in the tower now boarding up the hole to keep out flying monkeys made it a bit stranger.

But she had a mission, so, up the tower she went. Halfway up she almost lost her nerve because a short, mostly-bald man was coming down. He was one of the dwarves, but she wasn't sure which, and just scooted to the side out of his way and smiled.

He blinked at her owlishly. "Uh...who are you?"

"Oh. Um. My name's Astrid, I...uh..." her nerve was failing rapidly because she hadn't anticipated having to explain herself to anyone but maybe the librarian, and the one person she needed to talk to today. And she just didn't know how 'I was gonna marry your brother but then stuff happened which I need to discuss with him so would you step aside?' would be recieved... "um, I-"

"Astrid?" he repeated slowly, sounding it out. "Do I... _oh_."

Suddenly his whole demeanor changed. He turned so they could pass each other easily, and he scooted by her with a quick nod, formerly sleepy eyes wide and just slightly alarmed. And she had no idea why, but decided it wasn't important enough to derail her and hurried up the steps until she reached the top of the tower. It was pitch-black because the boards were up all the way now, blotting out the sunshine that might usually come in through the frosted glass. There was one work light set up by the stairs of this metal platform behind the clock face, which cast stark white light and deep dark shadows on everything.

Including his face when he turned around at the sound of her steps on the stairs.

"What did you forget?" he grumbled, then blinked. Hard. Twice. He was staring right at her, then, but he seemed to have forgotten how to talk, and the only time he'd ever looked at her like that was when he was right before he said he'd seen her before in a dream.

(He really was sweet, she dearly hoped Blue hadn't taken that away from him when she took away his dreams.)

Since he wasn't talking, Astrid took a deep breath, and the initiative: "Hi," she smiled.

He blinked at her again, then gave the slightest shake of his head like he'd reset, and turned his attention back to rolling up a power cord like he'd been doing before. "...hey."

It wasn't a great start, but it was a word, so that was something. She picked her way forward, carefully, mindful of the cords that snaked over the ground so she didn't trip and stopped a good four feet away from him. Four feet was still awfully close after such a long time, and yet, not close enough either.

"So...um...I see you boarded up the hole."

"Yeah. Can't have flying monkeys shutting down the library," he grunted. Then paused. "Not that Belle would go down without a fight, but still."

"The librarian?" Astrid had heard the name somewhere, she was sure it was the librarian. The fairies had their own library and hadn't had cause to visit this one, (at least, were told as much,) so she'd never had a face to put to the name. "Really? She's so...little."

"She took on a flaming lion-monster armed with a book and stubborness, that sister is tough as nails," he said, looping the end of the powercord around to secure it in a tidy circle. "She's also got a lot on her plate right now and somebody ought to think of her for a change."

Belle...Belle...oh. Astrid remembered something else about the Storybrooke librarian, perhaps the real reason Blue hadn't wanted any fairies going to the library. "She's...the Dark One's..." Girlfriend? Wife? Lover? Astrid wasn't up to date on the local gossip enough to know just what Belle was, she was still wrapping her head around the Prince James/David issue. And that was old news.

"She keeps saying she's got faith in Gold and she'll find a way to help him, but I wouldn't count on that witch not stabbing him through the chest and taking the Dark One powers for herself. She's crazy enough to do it, at least." He threw down the roll of cord, then glanced over his shoulder at the stairwell guiltily. "Not that I'd tell her that."

Astrid nodded slowly. Truthfully, just seeing the Dark One, Rumpelstiltskin, longest-living bearer of the Dark One's Curse, enemy of Rheul Gorm and fairykind, (or maybe just Rheul Gorm...) dressed in ragged clothes and helpless to the whims of a madwoman made her pity him. The idea that he was loved by someone who was worried sick about him in that state...well that was just plain awful. She'd never ruined anything in the convent library, maybe she should ask if this Belle lady needed a hand sometime.

"That's terrible...but, um I need to tell you something I found out, um, after we all got back. I mean, you know, aside from the witch and the flying monkeys."

He was paying an awful lot of attention to arranging things in an open tool box, rather than meeting her eye to eye. "Yeah?"

Astrid fiddled with her fingers, looking down at the twisting. She had a hangnail, her nails could use a trim too. "Um...so...I left the fairies-"

"You what?" Oh, sure, that got his full attention. His blue eyes went wide and full of concern, and she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Probably cry.

She forced herself to shrug, like it wasn't that big a deal. Leaving behind the only life she'd ever known. Being lucky enough that it happened at a time when lots of resources were available to helping people find their feet independantly in this realm. That she was so unimportant in the grand scheme of things that she wasn't made an example of. No big deal.

"I dunno what happened, but I woke up in the middle of town hall with a bunch of other people instead of in the convent, wearing some different clothes than my habit. Um, I don't know why, but...I don't actually mind-"

"How-How can you not mind?" he blurted out. "Your dream is to be a fairy godmother, what happened in the past year-"

"It doesn't matter to me," Astrid shrugged again, this time not having to force it that much because...well, it didn't matter. "Because you know what? I'm helping people now, there's strangers in Storybrooke that need housing and clothes, and to learn not to be afraid of the light in the fridge, and how running water works, and they don't need a magic wand."

"But-"

"And I don't need a wand to help them," Astrid pressed, daring to brush her fingers against his hand. It was rough and bigger than hers, and she missed how their fingers slotted together like this. "It's just a title. Title's don't help people, Dreamy, and that's all I've ever wanted to do as a fairy."

He looked down at their intertwined fingers up until she spoke his name. Then he flinched. "I don't really fit that name anymore, sister, I'm not sure it ever suited a dwarf."

"Well...what do you want me to call you?"

"Just...why?" he tugged his hand out of hers, (she'd be lying if she said she hadn't expected that,) and took a step backwards. "Goddam-After everything I did, everything I fucking-Why would you want to talk to me again, after everything?"

"Because what happened wasn't-" well that wasn't strictly true, a healthy dose was his fault, but not all of it, "- _all_ your fault, alright?"

His eyes narrowed suspiciously, but his mouth snapped shut on whatever argument he was forming.

"The whole...fairy godmother dream?" Astrid flicked her wrist, weilding an imaginary wand. "It's not really a dream. Good fairies do what they're told and someday they get to be fairy godmothers. Fairies who have actual dreams, like...like being painters or inventors or anything else, they get scolded and shamed until they give up on dreams."

He looked at her with, frankly, horror. His eyes darted all over her like he was checking for damage, before settling on her face with too much guilt in his eyes. She wasn't not-angry with him for trusting Blue's word over her feelings, but she was a lot angrier with Blue. This sweet, stupid man's chief fault was being as inexperienced as she was, and being afraid of hurting her.

Blue was just...cold.

"Oh hell," his eyes dropped down to the toes of his boots. "Shit...I-I mean-Oh, shit, Astrid, I didn't mean-I didn't want to leave, I thought it was for the best, I-I'm sorry."

"Blue gave me a shoulder to cry on and promised it would be like the whole thing never happened. But I knew I couldn't be a fairy godmother from then on. That wasn't my dream, _my_ dream was to be part of the world instead of...flying over it." Astrid took his hands again and this time he didn't pull away. "I can't be too angry at you because without you, I never would have looked beyond what I was supposed to want. That and I'm too kind, too emotional, too open to be a fairy godmother, so what does that tell you?"

He made a face that was part suspicious and part disbelieving. "Too kind?"

"Yeah...apparently your fairy godmother should be as cold and distant as she can without being outright cruel, so you don't rely on their help."

"That...makes no sense."

Astrid fought down a giggle that was bubbling up in her throat because, yes, it was ridiculous. It was utterly ridiulous. A title with "mother" in the job description, and you were supposed to ignore your charge until they'd dug themselves in so deep magic could barely dig them out. And what magic you gave them was so full of loopholes it was likely to backfire if they weren't meticulous, like how Pinocchio was on his second childhood now. Fairy magic didn't make sense, at least not the way it was taught.

"So...do you understand when I say that I left, it was because it was my choice?" she asked. And she hoped he did. Because as romantic as the thought of eloping was, she was pretty content to have found her own way, too.

He shifted on his feet uncomfortably, but his hands applied the slightest pressure to hers. "I...I think so, yeah. Um. Yeah. I get it. I kinda...well it wasn't the same thing, really, but I left for a human mine a couple weeks after-I get it. Not belonging where you're supposed to. I'm just so sorry I was such a dumbass about it Nova, I was really f-I was really stupid and I'm sorry."

Astrid kinda wanted to kiss him, then, but that probably wasn't a good idea. She didn't...she was still kind of mad. A lot less mad. That was something they could work out later, though, when there wasn't a witch lurking in the shadows with a captive Dark One maybe. That sounded good.

"You're _mostly_ forgiven." She smiled. "And I kind of like going by Astrid now, so...what can I call you?"

"Me? Ah...Leroy. Leroy works fine." He coughed and turned away, gesturing at the mess left to tidy up. "I've still got to pack up, er, maybe...maybe I could, that is, maybe we could talk later?"

Astrid hesitated a moment. "Um...I was gonna go over to Granny's for dinner..." Was this too forward? It wasn't a date, really, but if he wanted to talk about some lesser things like how his brothers were and where she was living and, uh, the weather or something like that, why shouldn't they go to the diner to eat? She did like him, a lot, and even if they never, ever got back together in a romantic sense, she'd love to be friends...

"I'm gonna be awhile, you should probably go ahead." Leroy started winding up a seond power cord. "Speaking of Granny's, I'm usually there in the morning if...are you asking me to come with you now?"

She slapped a hand over her mouth, trying to stifle any accidental laughter because this man was impossible. Dreamy, Grumpy, Leroy, any and all of the three in combination: Impossible!

Leroy gave her the most half-hearted scowl she'd ever seen, (it was more an embarrassed, stifled smile than a proper scowl, really,) and flung down a secondary power cord he'd been holding. "Hey!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Astrid giggled helplessly. "But, you know, at least you caught it this time?"

He muttered something that was probably a swear and flung the power cord aside, before walking with her to the stairs. "Yeah, yeah, at least now you know what kinda dumbass you're inviting out in public."

"Yeah, but you're my favorite dumbass."

The word felt clunky on her tongue, Nova hadn't known such words existed and Sister Astrid had vague memories of getting her mouth washed out with soap as a child for saying something similar. But it made Leroy do an actual, honest double-take before he burst out laughing, and that was worth just about anything in the world.


End file.
